


A Christmas Surprise

by HolmesianDeduction



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Christmas, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-14
Updated: 2012-11-14
Packaged: 2017-11-18 14:55:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/562291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HolmesianDeduction/pseuds/HolmesianDeduction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes Arthur's surprises aren't just of the rice variety.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Christmas Surprise

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AmatorAlatus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmatorAlatus/gifts).



             “I thought Carolyn promised we’d never do this again.”  Douglas grumbled the complaint half under his breath as he settled into the back of the cab.

             “She did,” Martin agreed, shivering and pulling the collar of his worn wool jacket tighter around his neck, “‘No more Christmas flights’ she said.  ’Not after last year’s debacle.’”  He sighed, “It must be a big one then.”  Then, a concerned look slipping over his features, he added: “Arthur must be simply _heartbroken_.”

             Making a quiet noise of agreement, Douglas remained unusually silent for the rest of the cab ride to the airfield, and hesitant to disturb him, Martin lapsed into the same silence.

             When they arrived, they were surprised however, to find an agitated Carolyn just stepping out of her car, demanding to know “Why on  _earth_ you two idiots have called me out here at half past eleven on Christmas Eve?”

             Blinking, Martin shook his head, “But _you_ called _us_!”

             “I most certainly did _not_!”

             “It was  _definitely_ you on the phone.”

             “Well it was Douglas who phoned me!”

             “I assure you - it couldn’t have been.  I was _asleep_.”

             They were interrupted as the intercom cut in, blaring Christmas music, and staring at one another in a moment of confusion and alarm, all three suddenly seemed to reach the same conclusion at once.

             “ _Arthur_!”

             By the time they reached the plane, it was too late - the entire aircraft had been decked out with all variety of Christmas decorations, and Christmas carols were playing over the intercom, which had been carefully wired into the hangar’s PA system.  Sticking his head out of the doorway, Arthur grinned and held up a plate of, judging by the steam, still warm cookies.  “You made it!”

             As they filed inside one by one, no one thought to ask how Arthur managed to get there without anyone knowing, or when he became adept at passably mimicking their voices, and as the night wore on, it became irrelevant.  Arthur had, through the power of decoration, turned the plane into a miniature cabin, complete with stockings for the entire crew, and as the clock hit midnight, he managed to coax everyone into a round of songs over cider.  It was small, and it there wasn’t, Arthur later lamented, room for a proper tree, but he had managed to coax all of them - his entire small, discombobulated family onto the plane and into having Christmas together rather than spread out and alone, and that was, as far as he was concerned, brilliant.


End file.
